This session, organised by the LIFE Shara project coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation, focused on highlighting the latest developments in tools accessible to all audiences to provide quality and up-to-date information on the future climate

The Spanish experience of the regional scenarios of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC) and the development of an interactive viewer were the focus of one of the afternoon sessions of the Spain Pavilion yesterday within the 25th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP25). The discussion focused on the future opportunities and challenges in relation to these new technologies, at a time when society demands more information, so it is necessary not only to provide climate information but also to help understand it and make good use of it.

Spain’s experience in interactive scenarios and projections is extensive and will serve as the basis for the interactive Atlas that will include the next assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This is the first time that the IPCC has opted for an interactive tool for its reports.

The session, which was organised by the LIFE SHARA project coordinated by the Biodiversity Foundation, was attended by some of the main researchers working on the development of these tools in both Spanish and foreign centres and who collaborate with the IPCC. 

The Spanish experience of the regional scenarios of the National Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change (PNACC), developed by the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) in coordination with the Spanish Office for Climate Change, initially served to develop a viewer of regionalized scenarios.

This tool allows projections of the future climate to be visualized in an intuitive and didactic format for the general public, but it is also a very useful source of data for research, as the data can be downloaded and exported in different formats, facilitating the study of the impacts of climate change and the development of policies and adaptation plans.

At the round table, moderated by Maisas Rojas, from the University of Chile, the head of Climate Assessment and Modelling at AEMET, Ernesto Rodríguez Camino, pointed out that “it is important to have a common reference for all studies and to balance the needs of users for the ad hoc development of the tools”.

José Manuel Gutiérrez, coordinator of the Climate Platform of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), explained that the climate change scenario viewer “places our country at the forefront of countries that promote interactive climate projections”.

For his part, Richard Jones, senior scientist at the United Kingdom’s Met Office, explained that this new tool that will be included in their next assessment report, which will be made public in April, has already generated a lot of excitement among the scientific community. “The feedback received so far has been very positive,” he said.

Finally, Sebastián Vicuña, from the Universidad Pontificia Católica de Chile and co-chair of the IPCC Data Working Group, emphasised the importance of ensuring the transparency and accessibility of these tools without distorting the IPCC principles.